Chasing Sea Chaser: Sunny Sausalito

The anchorage in Sausalito

After our trip under the Golden Gate along with the stresses of dropping anchor for the first time...we needed a drink. I made my usual, vodka tonic and Dad sipped his classy Keystone Light (only the good stuff). After 3 days out in the ocean, we were finally able to relax.

Our first impression of Sausalito was full of mixed emotions, a variety of awful encounters, and a lot of swearing. After our first night anchored off Sausalito, we awoke bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to explore our new home. The first task at hand was blowing up the dinghy...easier than one would imagine, thank God. We did a few test runs, fired up the motor, and prepared ourselves for our first trip into town. We were hoping for clean showers, decent food, and a warm welcome by the locals. Boy, were we in for a surprise.

Blowing up the dinghy for the first time

The first test of the dink's stability

"Wait, how do I drive this thing?"

Lookin' like a pro

In the dinghy we went, the sun shinning and the wind blowing through our greasy, unwashed hair. Our first stop was the Sausalito Yacht Club, surely they would have showers available. It was a very clean facility, with a fancy bar, comfortable lounge, and white linens covering the crystal set tables...elegant and clean. Pretty much perfect...this should have been our first clue that we wouldn't be welcome. Keeping in mind that neither Dad, nor I, had showered for the past 4 days, we weren't really in our yacht club attire (I actually think I was still wearing what I had slept in the night before). None the less, we walked in like we owned the place and found the front office.

After being ignored for quite some time, Dad was finally able to ask where we could find pay showers and we were immediately given a look like we were crazy. I stood in the background trying to charm the polo wearing pr**k who was vaguely answering our questions, as Dad attempted to get some local information...but nothing seemed to be working. Needless to say, we were shown the door without a shower or any advice of where to find one.

This was just the beginning of our time spent in Sausalito, but about sums up the whole experience. Long story short, our first shower ended up costing us $31.00 + $20.00 deposit...but, it was worth it (Dad says...."it might not have been worth it, but well needed.")

Now that we are getting ready to head out, we managed to learn a few things like....stay away from the yacht club, linen table cloths are usually a sign of expensive drinks, and Sausalito isn't a cruiser friendly town. Although we were expecting a warmer welcome, with a few more accommodations, we still managed to meet some pretty decent people, we just had to look harder than expected.